Great Expectations
by mishy-mo
Summary: They have no expectations of me. It was a lie that even he knew. They had expectations but sometimes their expectations were too great. Episode TAG for Words and Deeds.
1. Great Expectations

**Great Expectations**

He lied.

He lied a lot about a lot of things, using he words and deeds to control, manipulate and suck people into his delusion of truth.

But this time he even lied to himself.

"They have no expectations of me."

But even he knew better.

Wilson, Cuddy, Foreman, Chase and Cameron; they all had great expectations.

Wilson expected him to be a friend.

Cuddy expected him to be a doctor.

Foreman expected him to be a leader.

Chase expected him to be his father.

Cameron expected him to be right.

Sometimes he was, for brief instances in his existance, but most of the time their expectations were too great.

He often wished they didn't have any expectations at all.

Then he couldn't be a disappointment to them.

He lived without expectations.

Without hope.

So that he wasn't a disappointment to himself.

That was how he survived.


	2. Them

**Wilson**

Wilson expected him to be a friend.

Expected him to respect and care as he does, to put up with whatever shit he might do regardless if it put him in deeper shit, to see the benefit in the things that he does, to see the good he does and embrace it, to see the bad he does and look past it.

Wilson expected him to give all that Wilson gave him.

But he was out of practice. He only had one friend and when he screwed up with the only person he could turn to he was left alone with nothing but his own thoughts to guide him; which tended to include the small voice of James Wilson that seemed to have become embedded in his conscience.

House couldn't be the friend Wilson expected him to be.

He was House.

**Cuddy**

Cuddy expected him to be a doctor.

Expected him to find joy in meeting and treating patients, to be civil, to take calculated risks instead of wild stabs in the dark, to take into account other things than just the disease and the cure when it came to making decisions and to be like other doctors that became doctors to save the world.

NEWS FLASH! You can't save them all.

House solved problems; he did it his way and no other. House went (albeit dragged/pulled/pushed/blackmailed) to the clinic to do his fair share of wiping noses and seeing some disgusting looking injuries caused by man's (and woman's) pursuit of sex; preferably without procreation for the sake of Darwin sleeping peacefully in his grave. He was an infectious disease doctor, not a people doctor.

House couldn't be the doctor Cuddy expected him to be.

He was House.

**Foreman**

Foreman expected him to be a leader.

Expected him to draw them to the right conclusion, to take their ideas and mould them, to delegate tasks fairly, to impart knowledge and teach, to stand up for the team that he hand picked.

Expectations that were never voiced but no less true.

The right conclusion was reached more often than not by a twist of fate, ideas would be thrown back with a snide comment in tow, he was anything but fair, to close off to share anything of what made him someone they wanted to learn from and in tough times House hid behind drugs, alcohol and sarcasm and let everyone else get hit before he did.

Though Foreman never voiced these expectations the disappointment in the doctor's eyes every time House messed up said it all.

House couldn't be the leader that Foreman expected him to be.

He was House.

**Chase**

Chase expected him to be a father.

Expected him to show pride when he got things right, to embrace him even when he'd done wrong, to care what he thought, to care about him, to be the father than he never had and replace the father who's immanent death he'd hidden from him.

But House never admitted he was right even if he was, shunned him before, during and after he'd ran to Vogler, he put him down, often disregarded his thoughts and ideas, often disregarded him. He didn't mention the lung cancer. He'd made a promise.

It might have been a promise to himself or the absent father, but ultimately it didn't matter.

He was still searching for his own father.

House couldn't be the father that Chase expected.

He was House.

**Cameron**

Cameron expected him to be right.

Expected him to do the right thing, to find the right diagnosis.

The second he did quite often and with little trouble at all, but the first depended entirely on what your definition of right was. Most of what he didn't seem right in his own eyes; it was just actions that needed to be taken and deeds that needed to be done.

So he did them.

Sometimes she expected him to be Mr Right (not even Mr Right-Now).

Something he couldn't achieve even when he was in a relationship.

An impossibility.

She expected him to shield her form damnation; instead he often brought it to her doorstep.

House couldn't be right as Cameron expected.

He was House.

He was House, he couldn't be anything other than that.


End file.
